Frank Hardy: The College Years
by AliciaLily
Summary: Frank Hardy goes out with Joe and Vanessa for a night on the town, what a surprise! It involves drinking and is pretty fluffy, you've been warned. Oneshot.


A/N: This is just a fluffy one shot that I wrote for a friend who was experiencing a bout of guilt over having too much fun one weekend and not focusing more on her studies. :) It has drinking in it, so you've been warned. This story has absolutely no point, I wrote it at two in the morning and giggled almost the whole way through. Enjoy!

**Frank Hardy: The College Years**

"Vanessa's going to be here in an hour," Joe Hardy said as he flung himself on his brother's bed in the house they rented just off campus. "I can't wait; it's been forever since I've seen her."

"Joe, you saw her last weekend," Frank replied as he put the finishing touches on a paper he had due on Monday.

"Yeah, that's a seriously long time," Joe said and propped himself up to look at his brother's computer. "Is that an essay?" he asked, his voice incredulous.

"In college we call them 'papers', Joe," Frank said in way of answering his question.

Joe laughed, "How many times do I have to explain this to you bro, it's a _Friday_ we have two whole nights of parties ahead of us. Weekend homework is supposed to be saved until Sunday night."

"I have a lot of homework this weekend, Joe," Frank said and pulled out another text book. "Being a senior in college is serious business. I've got to get all of this finished before…"

Joe cut him off, "I know, I know…the five year plan." Joe rolled his eyes, "you've spent four years here and you haven't gone to one party."

"That's not true," Frank said as he poured over his textbook, "I went to that party your freshman year…what was it called? The Freshman Five?"

Joe got a far off look in his eyes as he recalled the party, "ah yes, the party in which all freshmen were required to take five shots upon entry. Good times."

"Yeah, that one," Frank said absently, "I went to that one."

"And happened to find the only other computer nerd in the entire house and spent the night talking to him about the evils of Microsoft."

"It was a fun night," Frank said with a smile.

"Come on; come out with Vanessa and me tonight. Live a little. You graduate in two months; you should at least have one normal college experience before your memory passes on from these hallowed halls."

"Hmm…let me think about it," Frank rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "no."

There was a knock on Frank's door and Frank called for the person to come in. Phil Cohen walked in carrying his laptop, "Hey Joe," he said and smiled before turning to Frank, "do you have time to read that paper for me still?"

"Sure, no problem," Frank said and reached for Phil's laptop.

Joe got up off the bed and threw his hands up in exasperation, "I live with a couple of geeks!"

"What's he trying to get you to do this time?" Phil asked Frank.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I think the main point he's trying to make is that I'm stuffy and boring," Frank murmured.

"Ugh," Joe said dramatically, "you just wait until Vanessa gets here, she'll talk some sense into you."

"Sure," Frank replied and it was obvious he was no longer paying any attention to his brother as he got further and further into Phil's paper. "Interesting source you chose here Phil, for your first argument."

Phil sat down on Frank's recently vacated bed, "I know, it's confusing at first but wait until you see how I tie it in, it'll have your head spinning."

Joe groaned, "Dorks. Absolute dorks."

Frank and Phil exchanged a look as Joe left the room, "how did Joe get into this college anyway?"

"I have a theory about that," Frank said with a smile, "it involves that trademark Joe Hardy grin and a hot secretary who has a soft spot for annoying blondes."

"I heard that!" Joe called from across the hall. The two roommates laughed at Joe's indignant tone before Frank turned back to continue reading his friends paper. Joe may think he was stuffy and boring, but he didn't mind. School was important to him and it always had been. He knew how to have fun when he wanted to; it wasn't like he stayed inside all day.

No, Frank wasn't much of a partier and that was just fine with him.

* * *

"Hey mom," Frank answered his phone, "how's it going?"

"Fine, your father just got back into town so we're going out to dinner. What are your plans for tonight?" Laura asked.

"I've got some research to do for a paper," Frank said as he walked to the library.

"Oh," Laura said trying to sound enthusiastic, "research, on a Friday night."

Frank smiled when he heard his father's voice in the background, "that's my boy!" he said happily.

"Yeah, research on a Friday night," Frank confirmed, "I want to make sure I've got it all done in time for Monday."

"Sure," Laura said her voice full of false cheer, "absolutely." It wasn't often she thought consciously about which of her sons had inherited her personality, but right now talking to Frank she couldn't help but feel like she was really talking to Fenton. Fenton and Frank shared the studious, get things done now instead of later personality while she and Joe were just as smart but realized that sometimes, school and homework could wait. Her youngest son was fun loving and easy going, just like she was.

"What is it mom?" Frank asked as he walked across campus.

"Nothing," Laura paused, "I just think that…maybe you should go out with Vanessa and Joe tonight…" she rushed on when he didn't reply, "or maybe not tonight, maybe tomorrow night."

"Mom, are you telling me I should go out and party? You do know that partying usually involves drinking, right?"

"Yes," Laura said slowly, "I know that. I also know that you're too responsible to do anything stupid with alcohol and you happen to be twenty-two, which is well over the legal drinking age."

Frank laughed, "I know the drinking age mom."

"Just, promise me you'll have some fun this weekend," Laura said.

"But…" Frank's voice trailed off as his mother stopped him.

"No buts," she demanded, "it doesn't have to be some stupid college party involving beer stands and beer ball or whatever just do something outside the norm."

Frank laughed again, "I think it's called a 'keg stand' and 'beer pong'."

Laura sighed, "You have no idea how comforting it is to me that you know that."

"Okay mom, I'm at the library now." Frank paused by the front doors of the big building.

"The library?" Laura groaned, "Oh honey…"

"Bye mom!" Frank said loudly, "I love you!" he said it quickly and hung up his phone before his mom could further lecture him on the evils of being too studious.

He reached for the big brass handles of the library doors and tried to reassure himself that he wasn't doing anything that abnormal. It was perfectly fine that he was going to the library on a Friday night; he had done it plenty of times in his four years at the university.

He walked through the main lobby and headed for the section he knew he needed. He paused when he saw only two other people in the main study area of the library. One, a mousy looking freshman who looked to be shaking from nerves shot him a scared glance before turning back to his rather overwhelming pile of books. The second was a very severe looking girl whose thick dark eyebrows were pulled together into an angry line on her forehead. She flipped the page in the book she was studying so angrily Frank was surprised that it didn't rip.

Frank stood where he was, eyeing the scene in front of him and all of a sudden it hit him, "what am I doing here?" he muttered. He whirled quickly around and pushed open the doors to head back down the stairs of the library.

In all the times he had gone to the library on a Friday night he had never taken the time to _look_ at the people around him. It must have been the extra ribbing from Joe and his _own mother_ that had him noticing just how empty the library was on a Friday night.

He pulled his cell phone back out of his pocket and dialed his brother's number, "Joe, it's Frank."

"Hey bro, I thought you'd be in the library by now," Joe replied, his voice teasing.

Frank winced, "I was…I…well, where are you and Vanessa going tonight?"

"Why?" Joe asked clearly confused.

"Because," Frank sighed, "I'd like to go with you."

"Really?" Joe said loudly, "really, really? You're not going to bring your laptop with you, right?"

Frank laughed, "No laptop."

Joe let out a victory yell, "Babe! Vanessa! Frank's coming out with us!"

"No laptop?" Frank could hear Vanessa call back.

"Nope! No laptop!" Joe replied, "Man, this is exciting. We're going to show you exactly what you've been missing."

"Sure," Frank replied, "I'll be home in a few minutes."

* * *

"What is this place?" Frank asked as he, Joe and Vanessa walked toward the loud club. Frank eyed the place skeptically; the only lights were large red orbs hanging in the center of the dance floor. The light cast an odd glow on the undulating crowd beneath.

"It's called Dolce," Vanessa replied already needing to raise her voice even though they weren't inside yet.

Frank's eyes narrowed, "the club is called 'sweet'?"

"Only you, Frank," Joe said clapping his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Who cares what it means, it sounds cool when you say it."

"Okay," Frank said and followed his brother to the door. Once inside they wound their way to the bar, meeting up with a few friends on the way. Joe ordered drinks for the three of them and they made their way through the thick press of bodies toward a table at the side of the club.

Soon it was obvious that both Joe and Vanessa wanted to get out on the dance floor, "you guys go ahead!" Frank said over the loud bass beat.

"Are you sure? Why don't you come with us?" Vanessa responded just as loudly.

Frank raised his glass, "I'm going to finish this first!"

"Suit yourself," Joe said and downed the rest of his drink. He stood up and held out a hand for Vanessa's, "come on babe, let's cut a rug." Vanessa giggled and allowed herself to be pulled to the dance floor.

Frank watched as Vanessa and Joe threw themselves into the frenzied pace of the dancing. They were perfect together, he knew. He couldn't count the number of times he had been grateful that Vanessa had entered into Joe's life. They couldn't have been better suited for each other.

"Hi!" a cheerful voice broke into his pensive thoughts and he looked up to see a smiling girl leaning over his table.

He smiled back, "hello." He had to pitch his voice to be heard over the music, it made him feel weird, yelling at a girl he didn't know.

"What's your name?" the girl continued to smile.

"Frank!" he yelled back.

"Well Frank, my name is Anna," the girl set her drink on the table.

"Nice to meet you Anna," Frank said politely.

"Do you dance?" Anna asked

"Excuse me?" Frank asked, he didn't think he had heard her correctly over the music.

"Do you dance?" she repeated the question.

"Oh, um…only on special occasions," Frank replied.

Anna laughed and reached for the hand Frank had resting on the table, "consider this a special occasion," she suggested and tugged him out of his seat.

"I don't think I've had enough to drink for this," Frank said with a half-hearted smile.

Anna simply smiled and signaled the bartender. Before he knew it Frank had a shot glass in his hand, "drink up!" Anna said happily and tipped her own shot back.

"Drink up," Frank muttered and downed the shot. The alcohol burned his throat and had him hissing in a sharp intake of breath.

"Not a regular drinker, are you?" Anna laughed.

"No," Frank replied truthfully.

"I knew you were one of those studious types," Anna smiled, "let's party."

Frank was amazed ten minutes later to find that he was dancing and _enjoying_ himself. Joe leaned over and yelled in his ear, "isn't this fun?"

"Yeah!" Frank replied, "I'm surprised!"

Joe simply laughed and then reached over to pull Vanessa back into his arms. Frank lost track of time, of how long he had been dancing and how many songs has passed. In truth, one song sounded exactly like the last to Frank, but he didn't care because he had long since lost track of how many shots he had taken too.

So it was with great surprise that Frank glanced down at his watch and realized how late it was. He excused himself from his current dance partner; Anna had disappeared hours ago and wound his way through the club toward his brother. He found him and Vanessa locked in a tight passionate embrace at one of the tables.

"Joe!" Frank yelled, "JOE! Do you know what time it is?"

Joe looked at his brother in confusion, "Frank? What are you doing here?"

"I came here with you, you idiot," Frank said, "Do you know what time it is?"

"You're the one that wears a watch bro," Joe replied.

"It's almost two o'clock in the morning!" Frank said ignoring his brother's jibe.

"Really?" Joe smiled at Vanessa, "time flies, huh babe?"

"Sure does," Vanessa replied, "let's call a cab."

"I'll do it," Frank said, "I'll wait for you outside." Frank pushed his way through the crowd and politely turned down a few offers to dance and few not so subtle offers for more. When he finally pushed his way out the doors he took a deep breath of the cool night air. His head felt a little heavy and his stomach was heaving a little bit. Was he drunk?

Frank didn't think he had ever been drunk before. He held his hand up to his face and when it didn't blur or make him dizzy he smiled in satisfaction. Well, if he _was _drunk at least he wasn't _that_ drunk.

He pulled out his phone and dialed the number for the local taxi company, "can we get a taxi at…" Frank's voice trailed off when he realized he didn't know where he was. "Um…the Dolce Club?" he finished hopefully.

"Twenty minutes," the operator said and yawned.

Frank hung up and backed up against the wall of the club, thinking it wise not to tempt fate by trying to stand on his own much longer. What had gotten into him? He _never _acted this way.

The music from the club got louder as the doors opened and Vanessa and Joe tumbled out, holding on to each other and laughing. "Frank!" Joe said loudly, "my brother Frank is here ladies and gentlemen!" He announced to no one in particular.

"Frank!" Vanessa echoed and walked over on steady legs. Frank was amazed at how steady both she and Joe seemed to be. "Frank, you're the best brother in the whole world." She laid her hands on his cheeks and placed a friendly kiss on his lips.

"Er," was all Frank could think of to say.

"You are!" Joe said loudly, "you really, really, really, really are!"

"Right," Frank said with a smile. So it didn't _look_ like Joe and Vanessa were drunk but they sure _sounded_ like they were drunk.

Half an hour later the cab dropped the threesome off in front of their house and they trudged their way up the front steps. "What a great night," Joe said and yawned.

"I second that," Vanessa said with a smile. "I'm glad you came with us Frank."

Frank thought about it for a moment before he replied, "you know something? I'm glad I came too."

"Hell yeah!" Joe said enthusiastically, "Frank drank!"

Frank groaned, "That was an awful rhyme Joe." He closed the door behind them and locked it, throwing the dead bolt into place.

"Thanks for coming Frank, it was a blast," Joe said enthusiastically and started up the stairs, "but now my girl and I have some 'studying' to do."

"Joe!" Vanessa laughed, "Studying on a Friday night? You're as bad as Frank!"

"That's right baby, tell me how bad I am," Joe wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Vanessa laughed. Frank watched them go before he turned and went into the kitchen. He was suddenly so thirsty he could barely think straight. He downed two entire glasses of water before he went upstairs to his own bedroom.

Before he could think of anything else he found himself face first on his bed, still fully clothed and snoring.

* * *

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" the alarm clock buzzed noisily in Frank's ear and turning his head slowly he slammed his fist down where he imagined the snooze button to be. He missed and instead ended up slamming his fist on the corner of his bedside table.

He barely mustered up the energy to curse as his fumbling fingers found the alarm clock and finally stopped the shrill sound from drilling into his ears. He wrenched his eyes open a mere fraction and groaned at the time. It was seven am. In his haste to get to bed last night he hadn't remembered to unset his usual weekend alarm.

He groaned and rolled over and was soon fast asleep one more.

* * *

Frank opened his gritty eyes and stared at his ceiling, "what?" his voice sounded raspy to his ears. He tried to sit up but found that his upper body felt like it weighed three hundred pounds. He turned to look at the clock on his bedside table and his eyes widened in shock. "One-thirty? In the afternoon?" he gasped. He sat up quickly and immediately regretted the decision as his head started to pound mercilessly, "ouch," he mumbled and grabbed his aching head, "really, ouch!"

He slumped back on his pillows and waited for death to take him. His head had never hurt so badly before, well actually that wasn't the truth. There had been a time in Russia when he had been held by the Russian mob…but no, this was far, far worse because he had done it to himself. "Stupid," he muttered under his breath.

"Frank!" Joe cried and pushed open his bedroom door with a loud bang that had another explosion of pain bursting in Frank's head. Joe ruthlessly switched on his brother's bedroom light and sat down heavily on the edge of Frank's bed.

"Oh!" Frank yelled, "Turn the damn light off!"

"Is someone hung over?" Joe asked sweetly in a voice that Frank thought was entirely too loud.

"Go away," Frank moaned and threw his arm up to shield his eyes.

"Oh, Frank," Vanessa's voice floated out to him like a balm, "you poor baby. Joe, why did you turn the light on?"

"Because it's daytime and it's time to wake up," Joe replied and Frank could hear the smile in his voice. "Frank here is being lazy, sleeping in so late."

Frank sighed when the overhead light turned off, "Vanessa, you're an angel." He smiled at her as he peeked out from under his arm.

"Here, drink this;" Vanessa ordered and held out a cup of brown liquid, "it's the Bender cure for the hangover."

"Is this why Joe is so perky?" Frank asked as he eyed the contents of the cup warily.

"Nope, I didn't need it this morning," Joe said cheerfully.

"Why not?" Frank demanded, "You definitely drank more than I did."

"I've built up immunity to the hang over," Joe said proudly.

"Congratulations," Frank said sourly.

"Drink up," Vanessa ordered and offered Frank two Advil, "take these with it."

Frank popped the pills in his mouth and took a long sip of the drink. He winced, "that's disgusting."

"That's going to cure your hang over," Vanessa corrected. "Now drink it all down." Frank drank the rest of the liquid obediently, wincing the entire time. "Very stoically done Frank," Vanessa said with a smile, "the first time Joe had to drink the Bender Cure for the Hang Over he nearly choked to death."

"Did not," Joe said grumpily.

"Sure you didn't babe," Vanessa smiled and ran her fingers through Joe's hair.

"Thanks," Frank finally managed and put the cup on his bedside table. "Now, can I please go back to sleep?"

"No way," Joe said, "you always say that it's a waste to sleep your day away."

"I…" Frank's voice trailed off as he realized his brother was right. How many times had he forced his brother out of bed after a late night of partying?

"That's what I thought, now up and at 'em!" Joe declared and clapped his hands together. "We're going to the movies."

"What?" Frank asked, "No. I've got homework to catch up on."

"No way," Joe shook his head, "this weekend you're mine. We're going to the movies."

Frank groaned, knowing he was in no shape to fight off his brother, "what movie?"

"Well, it's my turn to pick the movie and I'm thinking we're going to see one with lots of explosions and car chases," Joe's eyes sparkled mischievously as Frank groaned again, "isn't it fun when the roles are reversed like this?"

"Yeah, it's a real cake walk bro," Frank mumbled, "now get out of here so I can get dressed."

Joe laughed and he and Vanessa walked to the door, "we're leaving in twenty minutes so don't think you can fall back asleep." Frank threw his pillow in the direction of Joe's voice and his brother laughed, "Were you trying to hit me bro?"

"Don't be mean," Vanessa said with a laugh and closed the door behind them.

* * *

Frank had to admit that Vanessa's secret potion had helped to cure his awful hang over and that the movie Joe had picked to see was actually pretty entertaining, but he didn't have to admit it out loud.

"Where are we going for dinner?" Joe asked as they walked out of the dark theatre and into the late afternoon sunlight.

"You guys are going somewhere, I'm going home. I have a lot of homework to catch up on," Frank corrected.

"What?" Joe said incredulously, "no way. No way, this weekend is not over yet. We're going to dinner and then we're going out to the clubs again. This time we're going to show you the joys of club hopping."

Frank was shaking his head before Joe even had the chance to finish, "absolutely not bro, no way." When Joe started to protest Frank held up his hand, "I didn't want to have to do this but it looks like you're going to leave me no choice. I'll admit I had a great time last night and today aside from having the worst headache of all time, being lazy and doing things your way…but you're going to have to break me in slowly. I know that if we go anywhere tonight I won't be able to enjoy myself I'll just end up moping around thinking about all the work I have stacked up on my desk."

Joe stared at his brother for a moment and smiled, "that was quite the speech. Are you done there, Mr. President?"

Frank groaned and Vanessa took pity on him, "Joe, Frank has a point. He's been a really good sport about all of this so far." She turned to Frank, "but I don't see the harm in you going out to dinner with us. Either way you're going to have to eat."

"Fine," Frank sighed, "Fine, I'll go out to dinner with you guys." Frank led the way to the car and added in an undertone, "I'm really starting to feel like a third wheel."

The sound of Joe's laughter behind him told Frank that he hadn't spoken nearly as quietly as he had thought.

* * *

Frank sat in his room later that night and glanced at his watch. For the second night in a row he found himself in shock over what time it was. "Is it really that late?" It was close to one o'clock in the morning! Apparently the research he was doing for his criminal justice class was more interesting than he thought.

Leaning back in his chair Frank yawned and stretched and toyed with the idea of going to bed. He couldn't help but laugh at the differences between his Friday and Saturday nights. He had expected the guilt to come, the feeling that he had wasted a good study night doing something he didn't really see the point of, but it never came.

He just couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about going out last night. He had to admit that it was fun and he knew that even the best scholars let loose every now and again. He could have done without the awful hang over though.

There was a light knock on the door before it was pushed open and Joe wandered in, "Hey Joe," Frank greeted his brother.

"Hey," Joe sat down on Frank's bed, "how's it going?"

"Good," Frank replied and closed his textbook; he had decided to call it a night. "You guys are back kind of early."

"Yeah, I thought we should call it a night. I'm thinking of getting up early, heading to the library, you want to come?"

"Sure, Joe…are you feeling okay? You want to go to the library on a Sunday? It's not even finals," Frank smiled and Joe laughed.

"I realized you've probably got a point, studying all the time," Joe shrugged.

"Huh?" Frank said confused, "now you're really scaring me Joe. Who are you and what crime organization do you work for and what has my father done _this_ time?"

Joe laughed again, "It's really me Frank. I just think that maybe you have the right of it. I'm thinking of turning myself around, in the studying department. Now, I'm not saying I _need_ the extra time because let's face it, I'm pretty brilliant without it, I just think it wouldn't hurt."

"Well, whoa. Color me surprised," Frank let out a low whistle. "And here I was thinking that going out wasn't such a bad thing after all."

"Really?" now it was Joe's turn to be surprised.

"Yeah," Frank nodded, "I think we can learn from each other Joe. You help me cut loose…a little," he added when Joe looked too excited, "and I'll teach you how to study properly."

"Sounds good," Joe laughed, "I can't believe you want to go out more often."

"I'm talking like, once a month here bro," Frank clarified, "and once I graduate I don't think I'll have time for that anymore when I start working for dad…"

Joe cut him off, "no clarifications. You're mine until you graduate."

"Fine, as long as you go with me to the library at least once a week," Frank countered.

Joe groaned, "Once a week? That hardly seems fair."

"I say it is," Frank shrugged and then an idea struck him and he started laughing, "Oh man. Wait until we tell mom about our….arrangement."

Joe quickly joined in Frank's laughter, "Mom is going to flip. She'll love it."

"She can finally stop calling me and telling me to go do a beer stand," Frank chuckled at the memory.

"Mom told you to do a beer stand? Did she mean keg stand?" Joe asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I think she did," Frank shook his head, "it was hilarious. She also told me to play beer ball."

Joe roared with laughter, "Does mom even know what a keg stand _is_?"

"Obviously not," Frank laughed.

"This beer ball idea though, it has some merit," Joe rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stood up. "I'm gonna call up the boys, see if we can't invent a brand new drinking game that will sweep the nation."

"Joe, it's one o'clock in the morning," Frank pointed out.

"Oh, well…I'll call them tomorrow then," Joe laughed and walked to the door.

"Joe, I did have a good time last night and today. Thanks," Frank smiled at his brother.

"Anytime bro, anytime. Good night," Joe said and closed the door behind him.

It had taken twenty-two years but Frank Hardy was finally learning the merits of cutting loose. Well, cutting loose in moderation at least.

* * *


End file.
